WASHINGTON (June 30, 2020) —Government and correctional leaders have rightly responded to COVID-19 by reducing incarcerated youth populations to limit the spread of the virus, while also adapting their existing paradigms to better supervise young people in the changed environment.

The R Street Institute’s latest policy study documents these changes in youth probation and articulates the need for both short-term and long-term policy changes improve the overall efficacy of probation and supervision.

“Concerns about contagion have already required a substantial shift from normal probation protocols and will continue to do so as we prepare for a possible new wave of cases in the fall,” says Nila Bala, associate director of criminal justice and civil liberties policy at the R Street Institute, who co-authored the paper with Emily Mooney, resident fellow of criminal justice and civil liberties policy. Bala continues: “However, this challenge also presents us with a unique opportunity to examine probation policies and outcomes ever more closely and to reorient the goals of the youth justice system.”

The paper explains:

Read the full policy paper, “Youth Probation in the Time of Covid-19,” here.

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